


Fifty-Fifty

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes needs help, Charles Xavier Wants to Help, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Gen, Logan (X-Men) is so done, Logan Has a Heart (X-Men), POV Bucky Barnes, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, set in some nebulous x-men universe, since i never decided where in that complicated timeline it should be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27907471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: A chance meeting in a bar leads one very confused Bucky Barnes to a very unique school.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 219





	Fifty-Fifty

**Author's Note:**

> It's that time of year where I slap half-hearted endings onto bits of fics I started but never completed and then throw them up on AO3. I'm not super familiar with the X-Men, so when this idea came to me I never got any further.

The bar was dank and dirty and quiet. Exactly what he wanted. Barnes slunk quietly to a seat in the back of the bar and sank down into it; experience had taught him not to order a drink until he was sure that the bar was safe. It was annoying, having to leave behind a half empty drink, and, with his limited funds, it was never a good idea to waste money on anything. 

None of the bar patrons gave him a second look. He studied each of the five men, but four of them looked like down on their luck drunks hiding in a bottle. The fifth, a shorter, squat man with bulky shoulders, was hunched over his beer and intently smoking a cigar. His body language screamed irritation. Barnes dismissed him after a moment’s perusal, because people who were annoyed were infamously self-centered.

That proved to be a mistake.

Within twenty minutes, the short man slid off his stool and walked directly over. He slammed his beer on the table, blew a cloud of smoke into Barnes’s face, and asked, “You recognize me?”

Barnes stilled, wondering if this guy was the family member of a former victim or Hydra. Either way, probably out for revenge. He gripped the knife hidden in a sheath on his right thigh and gave an honest answer: “No.”

“Didn’t think so,” the man said. “I fought with you a couple times, long way back. Name’s Logan. I won’t lie and say it’s nice to see you again, cause it ain’t.”

Hydra, then? That seemed most likely if they’d fought together. Barnes remained quiet, waiting to see what else this man would say. He’d rather not start a fight in the middle of a bar, where there could be unnecessary casualties, but he was never going to let Hydra get their filthy hands on him again. He was _done_ being their handy little killing machine. 

“I’m not Hydra.” Logan spoke the name with a curl of his lip, like a sneer – or an animal, showing its teeth. “I’m an X-Man.”

The name gave Barnes pause. It was sort of familiar, in the way of things that may have meant something to him once, but his mind was such a mess right now that he didn’t trust half the things that surfaced. At some point in between mind wiping’s, he could’ve heard of these X-Men. Or this was brand new information, and his fucked-up brain was trying to make sense of it. Fifty-fifty chance of both, really.

“I’ll leave you this. Owner’s a good friend of mine. He helped me when I had my own memory problems, and he asked me to reach out to you. He’d be willing to meet up with you if you wanted.” Logan set a card on the table, scooped up his beer, and wandered back to the bar. There, he drained his beer and, leaving the glass and a tip behind, sauntered out like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Barnes watched him go, and then waited several minutes before he stood. He took the card with him as he left, abandoning the town and moving east, on high alert for anyone that might be following him. So it was a couple days at least before he actually looked at the card and the information that it contained.

Charles Xavier, owner of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The names meant nothing. Less than nothing, as it happened. Barnes wasn’t exactly sure how this was supposed to benefit him. He didn’t know how old he was, but, when he looked in the mirror and catalogued himself the way he would a potential mark, he estimated himself to be somewhere in his late twenties. Certainly not young enough to attend a school for children.

Despite that, he was curious about Logan and Xavier. Curious to know what they wanted with the Winter Soldier. So he began doing some research, looking the both of them up using means not available to the average person. What he learned was very interesting. He’d encountered mutants before on his missions, but their collective presence had never been something that Barnes dwelled much on. He was a superpowered individual himself, though his abilities had come to him through outside means. 

The records about Logan were sketchy at best. Many seemed to imply that the man was centuries old, which could explain why Logan had said he’d fought with Barnes before. There was no way Barnes would ever remember him if that was the case. His memories of Bucky were few and far between and meant very little when they did come to him: a hint of a scent, a glimpse of a meaningless face, a building long torn down.

As he learned more, his curiosity deepened. By all accounts, Xavier was a reputable man. His powers all had to do with the mind, whereas Logan’s included an advanced healing ability and metal bones. It was usually easy to figure out why people wanted the Winter Soldier around. Money and death were the two prime reasons. Yet neither of those reasons seemed to make sense here.

Before Barnes knew it, he was traveling to Westchester County. The school proved easy to find, tucked away in North Salem. It was large and sprawling, the kind of place that made all of Barnes’s instincts sit up and take notice. Places like this typically fell into one of two categories: either they had no security at all, because the owners were rich assholes who thought they were too special to need it, or they thought they had amazing security but, in reality, had crappy security because they didn’t realize that money couldn’t buy everything. A fancy price tag meant shit in relation to security.

Then there was the third kind: the people who had _incredible_ security that was so advanced it merely _appeared_ as though they didn’t have any. Based on what he’d discovered about Xavier and Logan, Barnes was going with the third option. Which meant he had to be very cautious about he proceeded, or he was going to get a first-hand look at how advanced that security really was.

He easily vaulted the fence and made his way through the trees lining the property. It was just two in the morning, so the school was largely quiet. He spotted some lights flickering in a few of the windows, most likely from televisions. At the edge of the trees, Barnes drew to a stop and waited. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but his instincts told him there was something –

And then the front doors opened, and a red-haired woman walked out. She was wearing a jacket, which she clutched against her chest to help ward off the chill, and jeans. Her eyes surveyed the darkness, but Barnes was relatively confident that she couldn’t see him. It was too dark, and the black clothing he’d stolen a long time ago helped to hide him. He was merely one shadow amongst many.

“Mr. Barnes, Professor Xavier would like to see you,” she called out.

He tensed as she turned to look at him and wondered if she was a mutant whose ability allowed her to see in the dark. Either way, she knew exactly where he was standing. Hiding seemed pointless, so he stepped forward. The woman’s lips parted slightly when he emerged, but there was no trace of fear on her face or in the way she held herself. If anything, she seemed pleased.

“Would you be amenable to coming into the mansion?” she asked. “I can escort you to the professor’s office if you like.”

Going into the building was unquestionably a stupid idea. He’d had no opportunity to do recognizance on the place, and so couldn’t even be sure of whether it was truly or a school or a front for something more dangerous. He couldn’t even be sure whether there were students in residence. Yet Barnes found himself moving forward. It was that damnable curiosity that had been plaguing him from the moment he met Logan. He had never felt so compelled to find out information before, and that in itself was making him curious. 

“Wonderful. My name is Jean Grey, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said, offering him a smile. “Right this way.” She turned on her heel and walked smartly into the building, heels clicking lightly against the hardwood floors. Barnes drifted after her.

The inside of the mansion suggested serious money. Barnes looked around as he followed Grey, his eyes taking in everything, silently cataloguing it all. Grey lead him up the wide front stairs, then turned right. She walked down the hall, took a left, and then paused before a set of double doors. She knocked, waiting for an answer that never came, then pushed the door open regardless. 

“Professor, I’ve brought Mr. Barnes,” she said.

“Thank you, Jean.”

Professor Charles Xavier was a man in his sixties by Barnes’s estimation. He was bald and sat in a wheelchair. Even though it was late, he was fully dressed in a three piece, tailored grey suit. He smiled as Barnes slipped into the room but said nothing as Grey quietly closed the door. Barnes listened for the sound of a lock engaging but heard nothing. Despite that, he didn’t settle. He stalked across the room and stood before the desk.

“What?” he asked bluntly.

“You are James Barnes, correct?” Xavier asked, folding his hands atop his desk.

Barnes tipped his chin down, neither confirming nor denying the query. Xavier nodded as though he’d spoken.

“My name is Charles Xavier. I’m sure you’ve done your research but allow me to explain. I am a telepath, one of, if not the best, in the world. You could say that I am very proficient at matters of the mind. I know what happened to you. I would like to extend an offer to help.”

Barnes merely looked at him.

“You’ve met Logan,” Xavier continued. “When I met him, he was having difficulty with his memory. I was able to go into his mind to help him remember what he’d forgotten. It was not an easy process, nor did it happen overnight. It took some time and effort on both our parts. I believe that I can do something similar for you. I know that there are code words designed to set the Winter Soldier off. I may be able to get rid of them.”

It was an unexpected offer, to say the least. Barnes was careful to keep his expression blank, but on the inside, he was reeling at the offer. He’d sought out a way to remove the code words from his brain when he first ran away from Hydra, but nothing had ever panned out. Eventually, he’d begun focusing on systematically destroying Hydra instead. To have this offer dropped in his lap…

“Why?” he asked, voice rough. “Who do you want me to kill?”

Xavier visibly winced at the question. “No one. I hope that you will never have to kill anyone again,” he murmured. “I understand if you’re unable to trust me just yet. I can hardly blame you. I wanted to offer you a chance to stay here for a few days. The mansion is safe, I assure you. No one can hurt you here. I’d like you to learn more about us, my students and my team and myself. I’m sure you have countless ways of doing research, but there is nothing like firsthand experience to build trust. At the very least, it will give you some time to rest.”

The offer had to have strings attached. What those strings were wasn’t immediately obvious, but Barnes knew they were there. Hydra had taught him a lot, and one of the most hard-learned lessons writ upon his bones was that no one did something purely out of the goodness of their hearts. This Xavier wanted something in exchange for whatever favors he wanted to do for Barnes. The question was, what?

“I am a killer,” Barnes said. “You trust me around your students?”

Xavier looked at him steadily and said, “No one will attack you here. A weapon has no reason to kill unless someone gives it a reason.”

He sounded like he believed it. Barnes thought he was a fool, but he was tired and hungry. Even a supersoldier could only go so long without rest or food, and he’d been on the move for the better part of two weeks now. At the very least, this would give him the opportunity to learn more about mutants. He’d have a better handle on Hydra agents like the Scarlet Witch then, or any other mutants that Hydra might have swayed to their side. That alone would be worthwhile.

“Fine,” he said shortly.

“Excellent.” Xavier smiled again. “I’ll show you to your room.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
